Random thought....

[kschul]

I was watching the History Channel today when they showed a photograph of one of the first open heart surgeries ever performed. The surgeon was wearing his mask below his nose. Seeing this picture made me say out loud "Thank you" to all of the patients that have gone before us to get us to the modern day surgery we have now.

Kris

 

[Jkm7]

I've often thought that, too. How brave those first patients were who first agreed to have OHS. They gave all of us such a gift.

 

[Eva]

I had the same impression a few weeks...I was watching an old movie on TCM about a young woman in love with a valve problem and how her fiance encouraged her to go and see a surgeon who was making trial surgeries! Luckily, she was among the ones who survived and the movie had a happy ending. YEY!!!

 

[heyrebekah]

LOL, no kidding! My father in law had a porcelain valve for a while! Needless to say, those weren't around long.

 

[abbanabba]

I was watching an old movie on TCM about a young woman in love with a valve problem

Hmmm... well I've accepted mine, but I don't know that I'd go so far as to say I'm in love with it!!

 

[Ross]

RCB your phones ringing!

 

[Jkm7]

I think that those brave pioneers who volunteered for the first open heart surgeries really had few choices. It was either die in a few days, untreated, or try this new procedure that had probably been done hundreds of times on dogs, pigs, and other animals, but hadn't yet been done on humans.

Potential rewards probably far outweighed the risks that these first patients faced.

What may be even braver, putting it into the modern context, is for people who can probably get a perfectly usable St. Jude or other valve, passing it up for a valve that is still experimental. They're bypassing a probable good outcome for one that isn't so certain. That, to me, may be even braver.

It is people of that bravery who gave researchers and surgeons the ability to learn and perfect their skills and I give those early patients every ounce of credit for their bravery. I refuse to put them in a category of 'had no choice' and simply dismiss their courage at just that. Every day of life is precious and many may have risked weeks or months they may have had and agreed to submit to surgery that could have killed them instantly. They were willing to give up the potential to have another hug from a loved one, to hear the voice of a friend who couldn't be present with them at that moment. IMO, They were brave people!

They saved my life and many others!

And today, many of us with unusual conditions are allowing surgeons and researchers to further expand their abilities and possibilities for those who follow us.

Medical science builds on prior knowledge and each of us is adding in some small way.

 

[Diane]

It is people of that bravery who gave researchers and surgeons the ability to learn and perfect their skills and I give those early patients every ounce of credit for their bravery. I refuse to put them in a category of 'had no choice' and simply dismiss their courage at just that. Every day of life is precious and many may have risked weeks or months they may have had and agreed to submit to surgery that could have killed them instantly. They were willing to give up the potential to have another hug from a loved one, to hear the voice of a friend who couldn't be present with them at that moment. IMO, They were brave people!

While I am one of the ones that had experimental surgery in those early days (1959), the brave ones were my parents.....not me. I was only 22 months old so I didn't have to make the choice of whether to have OHS or not. I can't imagine what my parents must have gone through. Their choice was to keep me for as long as I survived or risk everything to do the surgery and potentially lose me then and there. My parents were given odds of less than 50% chance that I would survive the surgery. It is my understanding that they did the same procedure on me and 2 other children within a few days of each other. I am the only one that survived. After the other two children died, they took their procedure back to the drawing board and worked on it some more before attempting it again. I can only hope that the parents of the other 2 children know how much their sacrifice means to all of us today.

~Diane